Making..

Better
,
Making Lines
Lines-as outline, as hatching, laid
down boldly or applied delicately
are the foundation of drawing. But
when allied with mass and tone,
lines become even more expressive.
by Dan Gheno
L
ine has been around for a long time. Ever
since the prehistoric era, when that first
artist picked up a lump of wood ash from a
spent campfire and outlined a hand on the cave
wall, lines have described forms of all types
human, animal, and landscape. On its own, line
is a very powerful force. A line can depict the
simple silhouette of a form as well as its more
complicated interior dimensions. When used in a
hatching manner, it can even simulate value. And
when joined with softer, smudged tones known
as value masses, you have a combined unstop
pable force-except, perhaps, by a good eraser.
Some artists will argue that you can most
effectively render the human figure or abstract
imagery with value-massing alone, that every
thing you can do with line, you can do with light
and dark tonalities. That is t r u ~ . Some of the
most evocative drawings are indeed based on
value alone. But at its core, all finely observed
tonal shapes are bound by an implied "edge," or
conceptual line, even if it exists only subcon
sciously in the viewer's mind. Personally, I'm
excited by the explicit combination of line and
mass in my own work. As I will explain in this
article, why not use both? First I'll describe how
to use line on its own. Later I'll show you how to
merge both into a dynamic partnership.
39
1
r
Point and Line to Plane
Line first starts quietly on the page as a dot. Then, to loosely long, sweeping, lightly plied lines-an impossible task if I
borrow from the title ofWassily Kandinsky's book, Point and hold my pencil or chalk between my thumb and forefinger
Line to Plane, this potent mark or point transforms into a as I would when writing a letter. (This hand position works
line and finally, in the hands of a trained artist, tums into a splendidly when sketching in the final details, especially if
volumetric plane. By varying the thickness, darkness, and buttressed by a mahlstick or a small, separate clean piece of
texture of the line, you can simulate a movement in and out paper under your drawing hand.) Instead, when starting
of human forms, especially if you let lines cross over one out, I turn the back of my hand to the paper (Fig.I), loosely
another, digging past the outside edges holding the pencil toward the end of
of the figure, into its interior peaks and the shaft and sandwiched between my
valleys. Depending upon your subject thumb, palm, and forefinger. I fre
or your aesthetic intent, you can use quently change my hand position
lines that are sharp like wire, lines that depending upon the intended direc
are rough lil<e Brillo, or lines that are tion of the line: If I'm drawing down
so soft that they melt into the sur ward, I hold the pencil from below,
rounding paper. Lines can range from allowing gravity to firmly guide my
the directness of Egon Schiele's often hand's descent (Fig.2); I hold the pen
unmodulated outlines, to the pseudo cil from above ifI'm drawing upward
brushwork of an Anders Zom or (Figj). Both positions allow for
Charles Dana Gibson, to the curva greater movement of the shoulder and
ceous, engravinglike quality of Durer. elbow, putting less importance on the
Depending upon how you apply your jagged actions of the wrist and fingers.
pencil to paper, lines can have an emo You can also get a thin, clean line
tional, psychological aspect, and they when you draw with the direction of
almost always display some sort of a the pencil lead, affected only by the
visual, rhythmic property in the way roughness of the paper or the softness
OPPOSITE PAGE
they dance around the page. of the drawing instrument. But notice
Illustrations From Ryakuga Haya Oshie,
However, don't make the common
[Method for Learning Rapid Drawing) how easily you can vary the thickness
mistake of thinking that line is nothing by Katsushika Hokusai. ofline when you suddenly change
more than a conceptual concern. Hokusai demonstrates how he holds his brush in the
directions, say, from the vertical to the
diagram on the opposite page.
Throughout the drawing process, your horizontal (FigA). When drawing with
Below that, the consummate Japanese master did a
line quality is dramatically influenced the shaft of the lead, instead of the
series of drawing manuals for his contemporaries.
by your choice of materials, the texture describing his personal form concepts and other
point, that thin line suddenly turns
methods of approach. According to Theodore R.
of the paper, your drawing instruments, thiclc As you chart your way through
Bowie in his book The Drawings of Hokusai, 'What
their sharpness, and the way you hold may have started as a game for the purpose of the details of the figure, you will find
displaying virtuosity ends by being a vehicle for
them in your hand. For instance, I your line automatically fluctuating with
Hokusai's supreme object-lesson: Control of the line
prefer to start my figure drawings with to express form." the direction of your hand and pencil.
NING SPRING 2006 41
Depending upon how you apply your pencil to paper, lines can have an
::;:.1 ohonal and psychological aspect, and they almost always display some sort
of a visual, rhythmic property in the way they dance around he page.
\.
Pure Line
You can say a great deal even with a minimum oflines.
When working from life, you can suggest a fully formed
human figure with a Simple deadweight line just by care
fully observing and mapping the outer edges of the model
(see sidebar on page 56). Look closely at your subject, as
Egon Schiele does in Reclining Nude With Raised Torso,
chalting the subtle variations of exterior shapes. Each
bump suggests some bone or muscle. You can certainly
distOli the proportions of the figure or exaggerate its per
spective !ilee Schiele does with his drawing of the woman
lunging fOlward into the picture plane, but try to respond
candidly and directly to the outside shapes. Your viewers
will then sense the volumes within, based upon the expe
rience and instinctual knowledge of their own bodies.
DRAWING 42
OPPOSITE PAGE
Twisted Torso
by Dan Gheno, 2006,
pastel and sanguine
crayon, 9 x 12.
Collection the artist.
BelOW
Reclining Nude With
Raised Torso
by Egan Schiele, 1918, black
crayon, 1U x 18%.
This drawing, so filled with life,
was drawn by the prolific and
young artist in the year of his
premature death.
~ I
"
,WING
"PRING 2006
43
Closure
You don't need to wrap your figures with a continuous,
rigid, bold outline. You can create a more profound
sense of closure by marking the edges of the smaller
human forms with intermittent lines, in the manner
Cezanne and Degas sometimes did. Working this way,
you can take a minimal approach: For example, you can
mark off the root, the base, and the tip of the nose, and
the viewer will intuit the rest of the line. But if you're
interested in simulating form, don't reduce the number
oflines too much. You should at least place a hint of a
line at important high and low points along the perime
ter of an object and where one important subform cross
es another. The drawing will look incomplete or jarring
ly blank in places if you don't.
Overlapping Lines
Although the outside shape is important and, as Plato
seems to suggest in his theory of Ideal Form, is essential
to the very identity and recognition of the object, we
eventually need to travel inside the figure with our lines.
It's difficult or impossible for the beginning artist to do
this when working from photos, but while working from
.life, you will see how forms continuously overlap one
another, as when the neck slides over and above the
shoulder, or the deltoid runs in front of the collar bone
and wedges into the upper arm. In my drawing Arm
Swinging Back, note how I varied the thickness and value
of the line to simulate the swelling of the underlying
forms, particularly in the legs. Also, observe how I've
portrayed the transition of the left calf into the upper leg,
with the "overcutting" forms, as sculptors phrase it, rep
resented by overlapping lines. However, don't become
dogmatic. Notice how I use these techniques in a dis
criminating fashion. I emphasized the darlmess in the
line along the near shoulder so that the more faintly ren
dered far shoulder could recede. Even though the near
1
elbow is closer to the viewer than the shoulder, I selec
tively chose to emphasize the overlapping, bony points of
the elbow instead of the entire projecting shape of the
arm to keep it from looking stiffly enclosed. I felt that the
lines of the elbow were just dark and sharp enough to
OPPOSITE PAGE BELOW
The Artist's Mother Relaxing in an Arm Swinging
Armchair Back
by Oskar Kokoschka, ca. 1912, black chalk, IS" x II. by Dan Gheno, 2003,
Collection Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria. colored pencil, 24 x 18.
Collection the artist
The artisfs expressive approach owed much to his
intellect, but was also dependent on his choice of
paper and bold drawing material.
}
I
)
I
j
bring it ahead of the receding hand.
D9"'-'-t become a slave to fancy pyrotechnical linework. When working from life,
sp 1 at least as much time looking at the model as you do rendering the lines.
'E
dy of a Male Nude
1ichelangelo, ca. 1504, penand
Collection Casa Buonarroti,
Italy.
you see yourself writing a grocery
In the back of this drawing and
19 it up to fit it in your hip pocket?
Michelangelo could get away with
I he did just that.
:ily, he c row it away as he
vith so n. A his other drawings.
OPPOSITE PAGE
Study for the Heller Altar:
Head of an Apostle
by Albrecht Durer, 1508, brush
drawing with white highlights on a
dark ground, 12* x9. Collection
Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria.
So many lines, and yet there is not a
single example of the dreaded "tictac
toe" malady in the entire drawing!
Hatching
Many artists like to take a topographical, hatching
approach to their linework, such as in Albrecht Durer's
drawings. You can learn a lot from looking at the work of
this Northern Renaissance artist. In Head ofan Apostle,
see how he weaves his line around the forms, using
longer, gradually curving strokes on the softer, more
rounded form of the overall head. Meanwhile, he uses
shorter hatcmng strokes, alternating in direction, to
describe the smaller, more angular forms of the wrinldes
and bony landmarks. Observe how he overlaps lines in a
graduated manner in the detail; he never layers the hatch
ing in a tic-tac-toe, right-angled way. Usually, one stroke
gradually leads into the other, and as in the highlight ren
dered in white lines, the hatching can take on an almost
spirallike appearance. In another example, notice how the
depth of Michelangelo's lines vary greatly and seem to
become darker and more intense where they coalesce
around the accented bony and hard muscles points on the
figure in Study ofa Male Nude. When rendered with pen
and ink, his accents not only seem to turn darker but also
appear to have an almost polished, burnished look.
Try spending some time studying or copying old
engravings, as the students of the French Academy were
required to do in the r8th and 19th centuries. It's also
helpful to study comic-book artists such as Neal Adams or
Mort Drucker for their smoothly interlacing crosshatcillng
methods. This will attune your eye to the nuance ofline
and help you develop a subtlety and syntax for your hatch
ing technique. But don't overdo it, and don't become a
slave to fancy pyrotechnicallinework. When working
from life, spend at least as much time looking at the
model as you do rendering the lines. Otherwise, your
drawing will look simplistic and stylized, wrapped up in a
convoluted mass of barbed wire or what an artist and
influential art-techniques writer of the 19th century,
Jacques-Nicolas Paillot de Montabert, called "wretched
studies" and "the somewhat absurd patience of those indi
viduals who ... imitate exactly the engraving tool" instead
of nature. According to the art historian Albert Boime, the
teachers of the French Academy frequently whined about
the tendency of their advanced students to draw in this
mannered way, unaware that their early overemphasis on
mindlessly copying engravings "fostered the cold and life
less appearance which the Academy itself criticized."
of
~ S
a
:11
~ n
:t
be
the
n
so
e
or
lng
:11
I a
di
d
be
Jt
:e
47
SPRING 2006 NG
The Fusion of Line and Mass
For a counterpoint to this hard-line approach, take a
long look at Charles Dana Gibson's drawings, rendered
in softer, broader, and looser entwined strokes. Along
with several artists and illustrators in this cross-century
period, Gibson tried to emulate the flowing, painterly
effect of value-massing with line alone. Although many
of his freely curving and parallel lines seem to follow the
volumes of his subjects, his goal seems less the tactile
sensation of form that Durer pursued and more an
attempt to show the optical effects of light on structure.
Observe how Gibson evocatively creates shades of light
and dark by varying the closeness and number of hatch
ing lines to indicate value change. He applies a delicate
weave of subtle lines to the paper when he represents
the softer forms that appear to be gradually darker as
they turn away from the light source. He uses a greater
quantity of harsher lines when he indicates the harder
--, forms that sharply corner away from the light and turn
dramatically into darker shadow masses.
It's not easy to draw in ink, but it is a great way to
accelerate the learning process. You can't make any mis
takes with pen-and-ink so you quicldy learn to observe
and choose your lines wisely. There are many tools to
choose for this torture; you should try all of them until
you find the one that suits you. The Gibson generation
used flexible dip pens and thin, pointed sable brushes to
master their elegant thick and thin lines. Van Gogh
made some of his own rudimentary yet effective pens
out of common reeds and feathers. Today, we also have a
wide variety of fountain pens and even fountain brushes
to take some of the torment out of the process. I used to
draw with both in my early years, but now I find that a
ballpoint pen serves my purposes just as well. Some
contemporary brands of ballpoint pens are prone to
frustratingly splotchy accidents, but if you try enough
different manufacturers, you will discover a few that
provide a sensitive and dependable line. You will find a
ballpoint pen quite useful while on the move, when you
want a fluid, sketchy look, or when you want to indicate a
large value mass across the page with a cluster of rapidly
hatched lines .
.-" A First Night
by Charles Dana Gibson, ink.
Gibson .was a popular illustrator at the turn of the 19th century. He is
notoriously responsible for the "Gibson Girl" image, but he also produced
some wonderful social commentary such as the images above. He was so
sought after for his dynamically composed and energetically detailed visual
critiques that he worked for both Life and Collier's, competing magazines.
48 DRAWING
sp
Although many of Gibson's freely curving and parallel lines seem to follow the
volumes of his sUbjects, his goal seems less the tactile sensation of form that Durer
pursued and more an attempt to show the optical effects of light on structure.
----
BELOW LEFT BELOW RIGHT
Sleeping Boy and Study for a Standing Gesture Drawing
Head
by Dan Gheno, 2005, oilbased
by Kiithe Kollwitz, 1903. sanguine pencil on paper, 18 x 11.
Collection the artist.
-
I
I
j
\
\
<'
I
\
',
-
Lines as Mass
If you pile enough fine, delicately rendered hatch lines onto
your drawing, you can create the look of a soft, "lineless"
tonal shape when viewed from a distance. I lil<e to combine
bold lines with these more delicate hatch lines. Sometimes I
purposely use the parallel-lined texture oflaid paper to
enhance this effect, allowing my pencil to travel up and down
with the direction of the grain, as I did in Seated Figure. In
some cases, I smudge a little tone onto the textured paper
with a stump so that the contrast between the ridges and gut
ters of the paper isn't too jarring. In most cases, I try to find
a fusion ofline with tone, aiming for a gradual transition of
linework into pure value mass. The more I move into these
soft-blended passages, the farther back I grip the pencil on
the casing. I find it easier to control the pressure of my line
with my hand in this elevated position, allowing me to stroke
in a broader and wider arching motion. At these moments, I
hold the pencil so gently that it often falls from my hand.
It takes a great deal of practice to manipulate line into
tonal value mass. If you're just starting out, rehearse your
line quality as much as possible. Even while watching televi
sion, you can pull out a pad and draw lines repeatedly in
small square swatches, testing out different hand positions
and varying tl1e pressure. Try to practice blending your lines.
Gently run lines parallel to one another, layering them clos
er and closer until they almost seem to disappear. Then try
drawing lines in the opposite direction on this same swatch
to get even more added subtlety and blending of line into
mass. If you're an advanced artist, it's equally advisable to
keep an extra piece of paper at hand when drawing, so you
can test out your hand pressure or rehearse a complicated
tone before laying it onto your finished drawing.
BELOW LEFT BELOW RIGHT BOTTOM
The Pacha
by Jean-Honore
Fragonard, brush and
The Holy Family
by Giambattista Tiepolo,
ca. 1762, pen and
Woman Embracing a Recumbent
Old Man, Study for The Father's
Curse: The Punished Son
brown wash. Collection brown wash over black by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, pen and brush with
the Louvre, Paris, chalk, 7 x 7'/,. brown ink, 4* x 7'j{6. Collection Dutch
France. Institute, Paris, France.
Wet Media
The ink-and-wash method is another effective tool in our
quest to join line and mass, and because of its technical simi
larity to the watercolor medium, it even serves as a useful
bridge between the artificial categories of drawing and paint'
ing. Observe how both Giambattista Tiepolo with The Holy
Family and Jean-Baptiste Greuze with Woman Embracing a
Recumbent Old Man run loose value washes across their com
positions, joining their figures into larger, painterly abstracted
value masses. Notice, too, how the harder lines sometimes
melt into the wet wash, turning into softer, blended accents.
II
Try this in your own work, using water-soluble ink. Often, you
don't even need to use an accompanying wash-you can use
a brush loaded with water to drag some ink out of the line
and create an overlying value pattern.
I
Mass can sometimes so dominate an image that line
may seem a mere adjunct to its partner, serving to accentu
ate the deepest darks or the brightest lights, or merely con
taining the outside edges in places. Even when used spar
ingly, as I try to do in most of my drawings (see
in, but in places I added a few strokes to accentuate some
of the sharp bony points and areas of deep relief where
action hardens the muscles. I retreated from tonal massing
at the extremities of the torso, counting on the remaining
solitary lines to ease the figure into the bare paper.
The power ofline and mass doesn't end with the sculp
tural representation and the natural effects oflight on the
human form. They can serve a design function as in the
previous example or, as in the Charles LeBrun drawing,
where line and mass rhythmically fade in and out of the
blank page. Value mass and line almost become one abstract
unit in some of Isabel Bishop's ink-wash drawings. It's hard
to tell where shape ends and calligraphy begins in her Soda
Fountain. She also used bold hybrid line and shape marks in
many of her paintings, sometimes overlapping them in a
disembodied way that reinforces the essential flatness and
formal potential of the canvas or paper. We shouldn't com
pletely ignore the other conceptual assets of these contrasting
strokes, either. Notice how Fragonard exploits
Twisted Torso), line is still indispensable to both their emotive and expressive abilities in
my work. But remember that a little The Pacha. Known for his Rubenesque
line goes a long way. On this quick, use of color and animated brushwork,
five-minute sketch, I confined he approached drawing with equal
most of my linework to the enthusiasm, here dragging a brush
peripheral forms, overlapping speedily across his textural paper
and varying their weight to rein in an impassioned, desperate
force the interior, interlocking script, and there fIlling the page
forms. I tried not to disturb the with an almost modem, repeating
flow of the value gradations with- pattern of rough marks.
52 DRAWING
I
.L
I
I
-1
I'
BELOW ,
I
Soda Fountam ...-.....
by Isabel Bishop, ~ a ~ 6,
1954, ink wash, 7 ~
1
:t
~ d
la
in
in
k,
11
;h
r
19
Use lines when it serves your visual purposes, and use value masses when they are
appropriate. Let someone else worry about the alleged aesthetic rules. Your job is to draw.
The Use of Line in Painting
The use of line is not coOOned to the realm of paper and
drawing. Even many mass-centered artists use line to start
their paintings. I frequently begin my canvases with a
vague charcoal sketch. Then I reconfirm and build upon
my initial charcoal lines with paint, usually a blue, or per
manent alizarin crimson. I dilute the paint with a lot of sol
vent so that the color flows freely, like ink. Thanks to the
heavy proportion of solvent, the painted lines dry quickly,
usually within five to 20 minutes. This gives me a lot of
freedom, allowing me to move into the painting process
right away. If I think I've lost control of the drawing, I can
scrape off some of the top layers to retrieve the original
drawing below. But take care when you use this approach.
Oil paint becomes transparent with time, and you must
avoid drawing with an extremely dark line, especially if you
paint in thin layers.
-.
I sometimes use lines to redraw a painting that's in
progress, changing to a new color each time I make a revi
sion so that I can compare my changes against the previous
incarnation. I sporadically do this in my drawn work, such
as Multicolored Figure, just for the fun of it-I think it's also
quite interesting to document the path of discovery, with
each decision or adjustment recorded by a different color.
Even when I draw in my normal, monochromatic way, I
never erase my "mistakes" until I've scribbled in a possible
solution. It's easier to make a revision in either medium
\
when you can see where you've been. That way, you don't
.....
make the same mistake twice (or three times).
Quite a few painters use line extensively throughout
----.
their work. Van Gogh is probably the most obvious exam
ple. He used a highly calligraphic hatching stroke in many
of his paintings, while ironically, in many of his drawings,
he frequently emulated the textural aspects of brushstrokes.
Like many other painters, I often use lines as an expressive
outlet or as a way to imply forms overlapping just as I do in
TOP ABOVE OPPOSITE PAGE
my drawings. Even a mass-oriented artist such as John
Reclining Nude Multicolored Sharon
Figure Singer Sargent resorted to a heavy use of outline in much
by William Coldstream, by Mary Beth McKenzie,
1974-1976, oil, 40 x by Dan Gheno, 1996, oil, 19 x 15. Collection of his mural work. Many muralists of the time, including
50. Collection Tate colored pencil, 18 x 24. Sharon van Ivan.
Kenyon Cox and, more recently, Dean Cornwell, used line
Gallery, London, Collection the artist.
England. to make the imagery more recognizable from a distance,
54 DRAWING
I
and along with Georges Rouault in his easel work. they
often used distinct outlines in an avowed emulation of the
leaden lines that support stained glass windows. In some
ways, you might even say these dark lines serve more a
color than a drawing end; they reinforce and enhance the
hues within. Try to imagine the Hans Hoffmann self-por
trait without the lines. It wouldn't work.
An abstract artist like Hoffmann had no fear of lines or
drawing in general. Indeed, some of his teaching revolved
around drawing from the model. Unfortunately, today
many artists and critics decry the fusion of line and mass,
and they vociferously argue against contaminating the puri
ty of the painting impulse with drawing concerns. This
reminds me of another unfortunate time in art history,
when the Poussinistes, partisans of drawing and restraint,
and the Rubenistes, soldiers of color and emotion, were at
each other's throats. Each was adamant in its view. In fact,
a popular teacher and artist of the Neoclassical movement,
Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, committed suicide because he
was unwilling to sacrifice his emotional Rubenist side to
honor his pah'on and artistic father, Jacques-Louis David, a
zealous Poussinist.
Today, most people can appreciate both of those camps
and can see their eventual fusion in the traditional art of
the late 19th and the 20th centuries. Think of how much
potential was lost by these art wars. Life is too short to be
deterred by another artist's dictums. Use lines when it
serves your visual purposes, and use value masses when
they are appropriate. Let someone else worry about the
alleged aesthetic rules. Your job is to draw. If you stick to it,
LEFT OPPOSITE PAGE
Readers in Silence Self-portrait With Brushes
by Dan Gheno, 2000, oil, 30 x 42 by Hans HoHmann, 1942, casein on
(triptych). Collection New Britain panel. Courtesy Andre Emmerich
Museum of American Art, New Gallery, New York, New York.
Britain, Connecticut.
Try to imagine this Hans Hoffmann
selfportrait without the lines. It
wouldn't work.
How to See the Outside Shapes
You can train your eye to map shapes more honestly
and exactingly with a number of undemanding exerciS
es. First, try the Blind Contour exercise that artist
instructor Kimon Nicolaides likes so much: Stare at the
model and, without taking your eye .off the figure or
looking down at your paper, calmly draw the outside
edges of the figure. Your drawing will look like a jum
bled mess in the end. But as with the other exercises,
in the process you will become aware of a lot more
nuance along the edges of the figure than you previ
ously imagined, and you will be much more alert to it
the next time you draw normally. Next, try a variation
on the photo-trace exercise mentioned in one of my
earlier articles (see Drawing, spring 2004): Draw a per
son in a photograph as dryly and frankly as you're
capable. Try not to distort it in any way. Then lay a
piece of tracing paper over the photo, drawing clear,
clean lines along the figure's silhouette, noticing where
your original freehand drawing diverges from the
photo. This exercise will help you catch and correct
certain habits or predilections that keep you from truth
fully observing the model. I'm not a great fan of using
photographs when you have a chance to draw or paint
from life, b\.lt they are a useful learning device in this
case. Finally, turn to the upside-down exercise: After
laying in the overall figure, most of us normally draw
the smaller figure segments starting from above. Try
going the other way in this exercise. For instance,
when drawing the neck, begin at the collar bone and
move your line upward toward the chin. Or when
sketching the nose, start at the bottom of the nose
and draw up toward the top of the nose. More than an
exercise, this technique helps me whenever I get into
trouble or lose my objectivity while drawing. I catch a
lot of my proportional mistakes this way.
you will be as unstoppable as the team of line and mass. .:.
56 DRAWING
l
I